The present invention belongs to the general field of cutting tools consisting of the combination of a support member or holder and a removable cutting insert or cutting bit supported in the pocket, with a cutting edge of the cutting bit exposed for engaging a workpiece.
Cutting tools provided with a cutting insert made of an ultra-hard material such as a metallic carbide or the like are arranged to either support the cutting bit on the end of a holder made of steel or like material brazed in position or held in position by locating and clamping means. The present invention belongs to the latter catagory of cutting tools, namely to the type of cutting tool provided with a removable, generally indexable throw-away cutting insert, held in position in a pocked formed at a portion generally at the end of a holder.
Cutting tools wherein the cutting bit is in the form of an indexable, throw-away cemented carbide or the like insert require that means be provided for holding the cutting bit in position in the support member or holder. Such holding means includes clamps, set screws, holding bolts, eccentric pins, etc., which are designed to hold the cutting bit in a pocket in the tool holder with the lower face of the cutting bit firmly applied to the bottom surface of an anvil or shim disposed on the bottom of the pocket. In order to properly index the position of the bit cutting edge or point relative to the holder, the holding or clamping means are often designed so as to firmly apply at least one side surface, preferably two consecutive side surfaces, of the cutting bit against corresponding sidewalls of the pocket. In order to achieve such results, the holding or clamping means for the removable indexable cutting insert or bit often consist of a plurality of independent parts cooperating with each other, and are therefore costly to manufacture, are subject to breakage and failure, and generally do not permit accurate adjustment of the intensity and direction of the clamping forces.